Businessman Bob: A thumbs up from my cardiologist

Bob Dever, a semi retired businessman from Philadelphia, has been a frequent contributor to this blog. In addition to keeping us up to date on his exotic ski trips, he provides insight on the business side of the ski industry.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, and if you are not you should be, you may remember that nine months ago I had a major heart attack. After a week of skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I returned to Philadelphia feeling a bit tired but overall OK, or so I thought.

One week later I had some chest discomfort. I drove myself to a local hospital where to my great surprise I had two major surgeries, two stents inserted into a 99% blocked artery, and a pacemaker implanted in my upper left chest, all within twenty-four hours.

After an entire army of doctors assured me that I would survive - at the onset survival is the number one thing on your mind - I began to ask if my life style would have to change due to the heart attack and my related surgeries.

I enjoy sports. Reading about them, watching them, and participating are things I have always done. Tennis, golf, squash, racquetball, etc., are the games I play. Sorry to say I lack talent. My backhand needs work. I have never broken a hundred playing golf, and softball squash is a brutal game as one gets older. Skiing though was another story.

I have skied since I was twenty-one years old - I am 66 today. I enjoyed it the first time and I continue to enjoy it today. I have been lucky enough to ski all over the world - the US, Canada, Europe, South America, and even Asia. I am indifferent to black, blue or green, I just want to ski. I also do not want to have problems at altitude. I asked the doctors.

What they told me was that as long as I did the “necessary rehab” and took the “correct drugs” skiing and altitude could continue to be part of my life for many more years. For the last nine months I have done the rehab and I continue to take the drugs.

Rehab - I started cardiac rehab six weeks after my heart attack. Rehab consist of a minimum thirty-six sessions of mostly aerobic exercise. You begin with ten minutes on a stationary bike, ten minutes on a treadmill, and ten minutes on an arm machine. You want to do more but rehab nurses will not let you and they require that you build up to extended exercise gradually. The treadmill was the most frustrating.

I started out walking on the treadmill at less than three miles per hour. It was all the nurses would allow and, for sure, the nurses are in charge. I ended up at speeds between five and six miles per hour and gained lung capacity. (Note - any thing over 4.5 mph means that I am running full out.)

They also want you to reach a certain target heartbeat. Target heartbeat is a function of your age and general physical condition. My target heartbeat was 131. I got there but it was work.

The guys in cardiac rehab are always asking the same questions of the doctors and the nurses - “how long to do I have to take these drugs?” The answer, of course, is forever.

What the cardiac nurses will tell you is that you must get over the idea that you are taking these drugs because you did something wrong. “You have heart disease and they are not called miracle drugs without reason.” OK, I buy into that, now.

Back to that skiing. I have done the work and I continue to take the drugs. I am going skiing this year. Am I apprehensive, of course. Four days after my 66th birthday I received a kick in the butt - a major heart attack. It was a warning and I am taking it seriously.

My skiing schedule this year - Southern and central Vermont in December; France in January; Italy in February; and Alaska in March. Remember, I missed an entire year. I have to make up for lost time.